GERINA DI MARCO:
In The “BLINK OF AN EYE,”
Venezuelan Born Singer/Songwriter Explodes Onto The Pop and Latin Music Scene with Her Fiery and Rockin' Debut ‘GERINA'
* * *
Multi-Talented Singer-Songwriter Powerhouse, Who Was Performing
On TV In Her Country Before She Was 10, Creates Tracks in
English and Spanish With Co-Producer Chris DeStefano.
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In 2002, “Closer To You,” A Song Gerina Co-Wrote With Megahitmaking
Producer Steve Morales, Was A #1 Hit for Thalia on Billboard's Latin Singles Chart

If you didn't think Latin Pop could get any steamier or more exciting than Shakira's “Hips Don't Lie,” get ready to turn on the AC with Gerina Di Marco , who left her gig fronting a pop/rock group in Las Vegas to record her danceable and sexy, soulful and hard rockin' debut Gerina .

Drawing on her multi-ethnic roots--her mother is Venezuelan, her father is Italian—and the inspiration of the pop and rock icons of her youth (Madonna, Guns N Roses), the multi-talented singer-songwriter fashions a fourteen song set in English and her native Spanish that runs the gamut between blistering rockers, tasty pop, soulful Latin grooves and emotional ballads. Even if her heritage will invoke immediate comparisons to other Latin divas, the collection is chock full of potential hits that will give the Kelly Clarksons of the world a run for their money as well.

And unlike a lot of big pop acts whose music and style often is just a reflection of the high-caliber producers they work with, Gerina wrote and co-produced all of her own material, and is already a hit songwriter in the Latin Pop world. In 2002, she co-wrote “Closer To You” with Steve Morales, a monster producer in that genre who has scored hits with Christina Aguilera, Gloria Estefan, Enrique Iglesias and Ricky Martin, among others. Pop star Thalia released the song on her 2002 self-titled album, then put out the Spanish version “Cerca De Ti” in 2004; it sailed to #1 on the Latin charts and has remained one of the singer's biggest selling singles to date. Gerina received honors for the track at the 2005 BMI Latin Awards.

“My new album is the product of years of writing and playing and wanting to see every style of music I love come together,” says Gerina, “The mix really embodies what I'm all about, and everything I ever envisioned for myself as a singer and songwriter. There's the softer side, the rock side, the Latin element, and I love to blend them all together. I came to America at 16 but was exposed to a lot of big artists here long before that, from Madonna to The Cranberries. So I blend my love for those artists with some of the native rhythms I heard as a kid in both my hometown of Caracas and Margarita Island off the coast, where we moved when I was 9.”

“They say you have your whole life to create your first album, and it's true because I have been writing songs since I was 15, when I composed the song ‘More of Me,' which I enjoyed including on Gerina,” she adds. “Other songs are more recent, including those I wrote with Chris.”

Chris DeStefano who co-produced her debut album, has engineered hits for many major labels, including Jive Records, BMG and Sony. Chris met Gerina when they were both part of  Paragon, the Vegas based band that became a star attraction at The Fontana Room at The Bellagio, thanks to Gerina's incredible vocal power, onstage charisma and sensual moves. The guitarist joined the band a year after Gerina did, and felt an incredible working chemistry with her from the get-go. “Creatively, things just started boiling between us and we decided to start her album together,” says DeStefano.

“She came to the table with a lot of great songs, and just as we started in on those, we'd get on a creative spurt and start exchanging ideas that grew into new collaborations. We'd do the music together, but the lyrics are all hers. On a personal level, day to day, we're always on the same wavelength. It's like yin and yang, just a perfect match of sensibilities. But in a larger sense, having worked with so many artists before, I know a natural born star when I see one, and she's the total package.”

Millions of people in her homeland knew this from the time Gerina was nine years old, when she appeared on “In Search Of A Young Star,” Venezuela's version of “Star Search.” Ironically, though she was a talented singer, actress and dancer—she danced along and believed every word when Madonna sang “Express Yourself”--Gerina was the champion for five consecutive weeks in the “spokesmodel” category, proving her appeal as an overall personality. She went on to appear in a variety of TV commercials—some of which ran in the U.S.—for Colgate, Samba Candy, Toddy Chocolate and Cotton Candy Clothing. 

After graduating high school at 16, she received her family's blessing to move to the U.S. to pursue her dreams. Her first stop was Boston, where she lived with her aunt and studied English. Later with her cousin, she moved to Clearwater, Florida, where she enrolled as a Business Administration major at St. Petersburg Junior College. When her family moved to Miami, Gerina moved to the Atlantic Coast and took music engineering classes at Miami Dade Community College. A mutual friend who was doing an internship for producer Emilio Estefan introduced her around, and Gerina was soon being championed by Steve Morales and pop star Jon Secada.

Although the promised album project with Morales didn't pan out, Gerina wrote songs with him and gained a reputation as both a songwriter and lyric translator for artists like Ricky Martin. During this time, as Gerina was champing at the bit to do her own album, an attorney she knew hooked her up with a manager from Las Vegas, NV who presented her the opportunity to front the band Paragon. She thought of the onstage experience and the exposure it would bring her, and she immediately took the gig.

“Working with that band, which blended classic rock with symphonic rock, I became so much more confident as a live performer, and my communication skills with the audience improved so much,” she says. “It's one thing to sing in the studio, quite another to learn to entertain a crowd. The Fontana Room is the best room of its kind in Vegas, and I knew I was breaking through when people would line up for autographs and people would drive from hours away to come see me.”

No doubt, the instantly infectious songs on Gerina soon will be inspiring that same type of response on a global level. The colorful pop rockers “Blind” and “Blink Of An Eye” find the singer wondering about the power love has to blind us to the hidden realities of people. The lush ballad “I Don't Blame You” is about “realizing your own mistakes and taking responsibility for them.” Gerina admits that “More of Me,” the wistful power ballad she wrote as a teenager, was inspired by a celebrity crush,  “and it was really about a platonic love, saying what it would be like if that person got to know me”

“I've been waiting for a long time to be able to share my music with the world” she says. “As a songwriter, my goal is always to write songs that mean something to me and hopefully to someone else. With the songs I write, I'm always aware of creating an underlying message so they can be enjoyed as both entertainment and on a deeper emotional level. The most satisfying thing is when people who have heard them tell me I've touched them in some way.”